Top Financial News
Thu, 28 Sep 2000, 2:07am EDT
Crude Oil Falls as U.S. Supplies Drop Less Than Expected
By Lim Le Min, or lmlim@bloomberg.net
Singapore, Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell after the U.S. Department of Energy said the country's oil inventories are greater than stated in an earlier industry-funded survey, easing concern of a winter fuel shortage in the top consuming nation.
U.S. crude oil inventories in the week ended Sept. 22 fell 500,000 barrels to 285.6 million barrels, the DOE said, compared with the 2.2 million-barrel drop reported Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute. The wider DOE survey is considered by traders to be the more accurate gauge of oil supplies.
``We're watching very closely what the U.S. says about its policy and inventory figures because that'll have the largest impact on the market,'' said Nut Poo-Aree, an oil trader with PTT International Trading Co., part of state-controlled Petroleum Authority of Thailand.
Crude oil for November delivery fell as much as 32 cents, or 1 percent, to $31.14 a barrel in after-hours electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It recently traded at $31.19.
The price of oil reached its lowest price in five weeks on Monday after U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered the release of 30 million barrels of oil from an emergency reserve to boost inventories.
Crude oil also fell as Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer and exporter, said it is ready to pump more if necessary to stem a rise in oil prices. |
